Shame not been since my lad was 6 - 6 years ago - it was our favourite at the park by a long way (seemed to be on the 2021 map). Being dragged back as have a 6 year old again so will just have to accept going on some other stuff - guess the flying cinema, log flume and the Madhouse will have to keep us interested!
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Legoland Windsor
- Thread starter Jabberwocky
- Start date
Skyscraper
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Think I rode it as that on my only visit a fair few years back. Shame it's apparently no more.
siralgenon
TS Member
Has anyone heard anything else about the new golf courses they were meant to be building?
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
If Raft Racers is what I think it is (a pair of water slides, one yellow and one blue, with an s-bend type layout?), then I've taken some measurements of it on Google Earth, and it on its own occupies an area of around 2,000 square metres, or roughly 34m*67m.
If you rip out what appears to be the Mole In One Adventure Golf as well, then the area goes up to 2,500 square metres if you go right up to Sky Rider.
If you rip out Sky Rider as well as those two, you have an area of nearly 4,000 square metres to play with, if you don't sacrifice any of the buildings in Imagination.
For some idea, this isn't a huge area, but could accommodate a family coaster of some sort, I reckon.
I'll look at some types Merlin might possibly go for and compare them to the given area.
Firstly, they could go for a Zierer Force 281, similar to Flying Eagle at Legoland Billund. This would fit onto the area, occupying a plot of around 1,500 square metres or roughly 31m*61m.
They could also go for a B&M Family Inverted Coaster. The Legoland division seems very enmeshed with B&M at the moment, what with various family inverts and family wing coasters in their new Chinese parks as well as the upcoming family wing coaster at Legoland Deutschland. With Chessington building a family wing coaster just up the road, I reckon a family invert would be more likely at LLW, of the 2 B&M models Legolands are currently installing en masse. Looking at the prototype model at Happy Valley Shanghai, it might be a bit too big for the area of Raft Racers alone, but could be doable if Sky Rider went as well, as it takes up an area of slightly over 4,000 square metres, or roughly 55m*85m. Lego could also do a custom layout to more bespokely fit the area if they wanted.
If you rip out what appears to be the Mole In One Adventure Golf as well, then the area goes up to 2,500 square metres if you go right up to Sky Rider.
If you rip out Sky Rider as well as those two, you have an area of nearly 4,000 square metres to play with, if you don't sacrifice any of the buildings in Imagination.
For some idea, this isn't a huge area, but could accommodate a family coaster of some sort, I reckon.
I'll look at some types Merlin might possibly go for and compare them to the given area.
Firstly, they could go for a Zierer Force 281, similar to Flying Eagle at Legoland Billund. This would fit onto the area, occupying a plot of around 1,500 square metres or roughly 31m*61m.
They could also go for a B&M Family Inverted Coaster. The Legoland division seems very enmeshed with B&M at the moment, what with various family inverts and family wing coasters in their new Chinese parks as well as the upcoming family wing coaster at Legoland Deutschland. With Chessington building a family wing coaster just up the road, I reckon a family invert would be more likely at LLW, of the 2 B&M models Legolands are currently installing en masse. Looking at the prototype model at Happy Valley Shanghai, it might be a bit too big for the area of Raft Racers alone, but could be doable if Sky Rider went as well, as it takes up an area of slightly over 4,000 square metres, or roughly 55m*85m. Lego could also do a custom layout to more bespokely fit the area if they wanted.
tayspru
TS Member
Desperately yeah, it only has the Dragon as a family option then two tiny kids coasters
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
I suggested it because the park lacks them relative to most other Lego parks in the world. Many of the others have 4, 5 or sometimes even 6, while Legoland Windsor only has 3.
I feel that something in the family thrill category that some of their more recent dark rides fall into is particularly lacking from Legoland Windsor’s coaster selection. Think something along the lines of Polar X-plorer at Legoland Billund, or the newer Dragons at other Lego parks, in terms of thrill level. Jungle Coaster arguably filled this void when it was around, but now that’s gone, they lack something for slightly older children coaster-wise.
Shaggy_Dog_
TS Member
Absolutely! All the park has is the Dragon family coaster and two smaller kiddie coasters and all of these can get massive queues. The park desperately needs a family thrill coaster, something along the lines of a Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster (ie similar to Flight Of The Pterosaur at Paulton’s) would be a fantastic addition to the park.
However it’s worth mentioning that Jungle Coaster was removed from the park in 2009 due to noise complaints from local residents so the park would have to be very careful when it comes to choosing and locating a more thrilling ride.
Tim
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Air / Blue Fire
How out of date is Google Earth! Mole In One has been gone for over a decade now. It's the DUPLO Valley Waterpark there now and that's unlikely to go, as last time I checked It's supper popular in the summer.
I think there's certainly options for where Raft Racers is. But it's a tighter piece of land now the Dino Coaster and the Water Park have sandwiched it in.
As for the Imagination Centre I actually think it's time the whole area is overhauled. Remove everything from the former Space Tower site to Rafts Entrance (except Mole Mining as a nod to the parks opening). The 4D theatre should be rebuilt next to the Hotels and operate as an all year attraction.
Add the LEGO Factory ride as the areas signature attraction. And re-theme the area to Bricktopia. Bricktopia is the newer version of the Imagination Centre with more colourful models, but essentially still build and play focused.
If planning allows the old Space Tower site could be an excellent spot for an observation tower. It'd just need widening a lot. But I suspect it'd never get approved.
Rick
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Crux
Florida and Billund have four. They're building new parks and expanding existing ones to have four. Where has five or six ? What am I missing ?
They opened Korea with a single coaster.
I don't disagree that Legoland sometimes feels as if it needs capacity*, but I would really hate it to take the Alton Towers route and become roller coaster focussed, that sort of works in RTP but Legoland is an amazing concept that really doesn't need to be centred around coasters, in my opinion.
On my first couple of visits to the Windsor park, it didn't have a single coaster and that was part of the charm. I appreciate that the coaster genie is firmly out of the bottle now, but I'd much prefer to see non-coaster rides as it continues to expand.
The thought of ripping out Sky Rider (operational challenges aside), a water ride and even something like Imagination Centre really feels like it would be destroying a balance that few UK parks achieve.
* but on the whole I don't think it's in a bad shape. It's the whole "You can't build the church for Harvest festival" thing.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
My apologies; I stand corrected! I could have sworn Florida had 5, and it felt like Billund had more as well!
I do think one key difference between Windsor and other ones, though, is that Windsor’s selection is vastly more kiddified. Whereas the other Legolands have 2 or 3 coasters that fall solidly into the family thrill category and only one aimed at the smallest guests, Windsor has 2 aimed at the very smallest guests, and even Dragon is arguably milder than its foreign equivalents, and more family than family thrill.
I think I worded my above post badly. I feel that they could do with a family thrill coaster to put them on a level peg with the other Legoland parks. The new dark rides are arguably catering for this audience, so I reckon a coaster catering to this audience would be a good addition. Installing a new one would hardly turn them into a roller coaster haven as you dread, but I think it would make the selection slightly more rounded.
Google Street View appeared far more outdated than the actual aerial view. I could see what I thought was the waterpark above Raft Racers in the aerial view, and I could also see Duplo Dino Coaster in the aerial view, but there was something that looked a lot like a maze or adventure golf course below it, so I assumed that Mole in One was still there based on that. Street View indicated an attraction called Mole in One being accessed down a path near to Raft Racers, although it also lacked Duplo Dino Coaster, which would suggest that it hasn’t been updated in some time.
When I can get on to my PC, I’ll get a screenshot and show you what I mean.
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Thameslink Rail
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
The Merlin parks still have Google Street View from 2009(!) It can actually be fun walking around the parks from 13 years ago and seeing Old Macdonald's Farm, the Octopus Gardens and Beanoland.
Rick
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Crux
Why do you need to try and level peg with parks of the same brand hundreds or thousands of miles away ? Surely it's more about responding to the market that you're operating in and working with the site that you have. Windsor shares a market with two other sizable Merlin properties.
Six Flags aren't sticking 19 coasters in every park for the same reasons.
Florida is unique in the portfolio in that it inherited 3 of its coasters from Cypress Gardens and the other was dumped there from Windsor. Additionally, it operates in a market whereby it needs a certain level of scale to tempt people out of Orlando for that fairly heinous drive.
Windsor is unique because there are many things about the site and its location that make it extremely compelling, but also pretty painful in terms of development and its a challenge to work with.
This feels a bit like a scenario that Merlin can't win with in the eyes of enthusiasts. They get a lot of stick (sometimes quite fairly) for creating homogeneous nonsense and all their parks being the same, or sharing characteristics - now we're taking issue with the fact that they're doing the opposite. Please.
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Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
I’m not saying that Windsor needs to duplicate things in other Lego parks, but I do think rounding out its rollercoaster lineup and helping it appeal to a slightly older market would be beneficial. In the sphere of a chain like the Legolands, I don’t personally think that sharing some characteristics is a bad thing, and I do feel that the wider appeal of the foreign parks’ rollercoaster selection would not be a bad thing for Windsor to try and adopt.
In my view, it would put the rollercoaster selection on a level peg with the dark ride selection, which is brilliant and has seen a lot of investment targeted towards the family thrill demographic in recent years. I think Windsor does well enough on dark rides for the time being (they have 5!), whereas the coaster selection is a tad lacking by comparison, in my view, so my thought was that a coaster would be a more natural next step in rounding out the lineup than another dark ride. A 6th dark ride would not be a bad thing by any means, and I could certainly see one coming in the future (maybe that new Lego Factory Adventure trackless dark ride like New York has?), but I do feel that a family thrill coaster is a something the park needs more.
Islander
TS Member
Mole in One was ripped out years ago to make space for Drench Towers, which isn't likely to be going anywhere anytime soon given how popular it is
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
I think I may have misinterpreted where Mole in One is/was. I was under the impression that it was the maze-type structure beneath Raft Racers, but the revelation that it was actually on the site of the waterpark does make matters a little easier.
I’ll do some screenshots in a bit to show what I thought was Mole in One and what sort of areas I was talking about, as there appears to be some confusion. I thought Mole in One was something totally different, sorry…
Shaggy_Dog_
TS Member
I agree with you that the park doesn’t need to be a coaster focused park like Towers. However both The Dragon and The Dragon’s Apprentice feel a little bit dated and I’d like to see the park get something really nicely themed that stands out. I think that one of the things with LLW is that the last few signature attractions, Flight Of The Skylion, Monster House Party, Ninjago The Ride have all been indoor based rides so I’d like to see something added to the park that’s visually adds to the atmosphere and is good to watch off-ride.